As part of a 2-week internal training programme about Aggtelek National Park and its environs including geology, zoology, botany, local history and other themes, several field trips have also been planned. We joined one this week that took us to cultural history sights in Rudabánya and Edelény. The first stop was the Mining History Museum in Rudabánya, a town synonymous with mining in the region. We had no idea what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised by the variety of interesting items on display.  I was very much taken with the surveying tools that were like a Swiss Army Knife. Along with a sextant, a compass, 2 water levels, and several other tools were squeezed into this handheld device. Other unusual items were a clock on an orb, and handheld sun-dials. There was a large collection of miner's oil lamps, emergency equipment, minerals, photographs, tools, and even the old mine manager's complete room with an incredible carved desk. A series of microscopes gave visitors a closer look at some mineral and ore samples. Statues carved out of coal, and "patience bottles" that in the west are almost exclusively horizontal containing ships, in this case were standing upright and filled with not one, but several layers of intricately carved scenes from everyday life - like a cut out from a mine or a multi-story house.

The next building contained an exhibition Aladar Földvári's mineral collection. The building features one of the largest exhibitions of minerals in the country. Aggtelek National Park's Földvári Cave, named after the esteemed Miskolc University geology professor, was the first to come under state protection on the territory of an operating mine. The first tangible result was that the mine was legally required to bypass the caverns and preserve the area fully intact.

The small entrance hall to the building is constructed of glass bricks, and the ceiling is made of bits of blue plastic used as tiles that look like plastic trays taken out of chocolate bon-bon boxes. Weird. Inside, a very large collection of minerals and crystals awaits. My father used to take us to some place in Massachusetts, just some shack on the road that housed a rock and mineral shop. We used to dip our hands into the grab bag bin for what we hoped would be a lucky geode filled with amethyst crystals when we broke it open. We also used to have a stone polisher we sometimes hooked up in the bathroom. I have no idea what became of all this stuff, but we did have an early interest in geology at home.  Part of the exhibit includes the fossilised mammoth and other bones, along with replicas of the historic find of ancient Rudapithecus hungaricus remains unearthed nearby.

The last section is in an underground vault displaying old ore wagons and other machinery. Immediately to the right is what appears to be a humungous 8-legged octopus-like light bulb, but this was never explained and I forgot to ask.

Address:

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Mining History Museum:

3733 RUDABÁNYA, Petőfi u. 24.

Tel: (+36)-48/353-151
Email: rudmuz@gmail.com

Open Hours:
April 15 - October 15: M-F 8:00-16:00, Sat-Sun 9:00-16:00 

National Holidays: March 15, August 20, and October 23, regular open hours as above.

October 15 - April 15: M-F 8:00-16:00, Sat-Sun advanced booking necessary.

Back in Edelény we took a tour of the beautifully renovated Edelény Castle Island, or L'Huillier-Coburg Palace that I blogged about in May 2014. We had already been a couple times by ourselves and with guests, but we wanted to see the new section that had opened up.

It's a pity that like so much in this country, a monument is renovated with no adequate business plan put in place to keep attracting guests, attract return visitors, and pay for the upkeep after the renovation. Concerts, fairs, markets, renaissance fairs, courses and much more could be organised alongside the vague and hopeful weddings, and gastronomic tourism that has yet to materialise. The quality of the restoration work deserves repeated praise, as does the introductory 3-D film around which the entire exhibition revolves. The organisers have even thought to install a "petting wall" for the curious to feel what the restored fresco walls feel like without damaging the actual walls. This idea inspired me to suggest the same thing for our caves. No matter how many times guests are asked not to touch the drip stones (oil from human hands impedes the further development of these formations), people continue to touch them anyway. I suggested a petting dripstone be placed in the first hall to get it out of people's systems, but I was scoffed at. The new section was not at all what we expected. Back on the ground floor before exiting are several rooms displaying items from Hungary's Communist past. Children's toys and games, posters, packages of cooking ingredients, motorcycles, books, badges, chocolates, radios, TVs and much more had everyone shouting at a constant rate, "hey, I had one of those!" It reminded me a lot of the Retro Exhibition held in the President's Mansion in the Buda Castle district before it was renovated.

Open

Spring-Summer (April 1 - October 31)

Tuesday - Sunday : 10:00-18:00

Monday: closed

Autumn - Winter (November 1 - March 31)

Tuesday - Sunday: 10:00 - 17:00

Monday: closed

Tickets

Adults:                                                                    1600 HUF

Reduced (students and pensioners):                              800 HUF

Groups (15+ adults):                                                  1300 HUF

Family (4 persons - 2 adults, 2 children under 14):           3200 HUF

The final stop of the tour was a visit to the Borsod County Local Museum. We had been here last year to see a concert in the courtyard, but had not been inside the buildings. In fact, we did not realise how extensive and how many buildings the exhibition covered. Among the displays and rooms were the summer kitchen, parlour, smithy, shoemaker, textiles, cooper workshop, and even a room of old radios. Behind the museum, one can make the short climb to the ruins of the Borsod Earthwork Fort from the Árpád Dynasty. Borsod County actually takes its name from this former stronghold. The fortification served as one of the most important strategic centres of the Hungarian Conquerors, up to the time of the Tartar invasion.Take in the spectacular panorama from atop the hill across the Bódva Valley. The most extensive remains of a 10^th century Hungarian village may also be examined here.

Borsod Earthwork Fort: open every day of the year

Borsod Local Museum: Borsodi út 155. Tel: (48) 525-080 Fax: (48) 525-079

(High-season open May 1-September 30 Monday-Saturday 9-17, off-season open October 1-April 30 8-16. Tickets 200 huf)